Sermon: Proper 12B (OT)

29 July AD 2012 (Pentecost 9)

Theme: God Remembers What We Forget

Summary: With the sign of the rainbow, God established a covenant with mankind and with all living creatures on earth to never again blot out earthly life with a global flood. Even if the animals are unaware of the promise and man often unwilling to abide by the covenant, God has never forgotten and will never forget. He upholds both his side of the agreement and ours in the hopes that we will believe in Him, repent of our sins, and trust in His mercy for the sake of Christ our Lord.

Similarly in all of our relationships with Him, God always remembers His promises — and His threats. If we try to keep any covenant with Him by virtue of our own righteousness, we fail even before we begin. However, when He promises blessings for those who abide by His covenant, God remembers that His beloved Son kept the Law perfectly for us. God remembers Jesus’ horrific sacrifice, the body slain and the blood shed. God remembers to forgive and to save all who believe in Christ and trust in Him for salvation.

Even if temptation or mental defect lead us to forget, God still remembers — and still does everything possible to deal with us with love rather than in wrath.

Text: Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

“When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:8-17

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of God Remembers What We Forget, preached to the saints of God at Trinity Lutheran Church, Kearney, Missouri.

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 136:1-9; Ephesians 3:14-21; Mark 6:45-56

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